Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Tonneau or tool box

Trying to decide on one or the other. What do you guys like and recommendations please. Thanks everyone

A tonneau does nothing to prevent theft. A toolbox with a good lock and bolted to the siderail of bed can be defeated but it takes time and effort, a tonneau only requires a sharp knife.

drover

I installed an Extang solid fold 2.0 on the new truck. Have only had it for a few weeks so far, but it doesn't let any water in going through the car wash or with the light rain/snow we've had. Folds 2/3 out of the way in about 30 seconds, and can be removed by one person in about 5 minutes. My truck has an auto-locking tailgate so I never have to think about locking anything else. Maybe not as secure as a good toolbox but it fits my needs better.

Tonneau's are neither fish nor fowl to me. A fiberglass one costs almost as much as a cap and you are really limited as to what you can carry. A toolbox takes up 2' of bed space. Even an 8' bed becomes a 6' bed and the more common 6.5' or 5.5' beds become almost useless.

I've put a cap on every truck I've ever owned. A good one costs more than a toolbox or tonneau, but they are worth it. Any gear stored or carried is dry and just as secure as in the cab. If someone wants in, they can get in the cab just as easy. In a pinch you can sleep in the back. You can't put really big stuff in there, but that is what my trailer is for.

I've had shells on my last 3 or 4 trucks, and they're great for the reasons you listed. However, they are a PIA to remove, which usually involves having a couple of friends come over to help. I priced a couple out for the new truck and they were $4,000 plus. Bought my tonneau locally for $630 from a guy who never installed it. Give it a year or so and I may not like it, but as of today I'm pretty happy with it.

I use a Betterbuilt aluminum across the bed toolbox that mounts to the siderails. It leaves about a foot of room underneath it so that the full length of the bed is available as long as the item isn't over a foot or so high.
The model I chose has double lids so that it is accessible from either sides. I have never had a leak with it which cannot be said for a couple of other manufacturers models.

drover

I like hard folding tonneau covers. Been using them since 2005. My 1st was a Peragon folding cover, I don't recommend it. My 2nd was a Extang Solid fold, now I have the Extang Solid Fold 2.0 (Only reason I went to the 2.0 was I left the other one on my last truck when I sold it to my cousin). See Sockpuppet's post above.
One of the best features of the Extang Solid Fold is no mounting hardware permanently attached to the truck, when you take it off there is nothing left in the way.
Mine will leak a little, but no big deal. If I want to carry something that can't get wet bag it or put it in a tote.
A hard tonneau with a locking tailgate is probably more secure than the cab of my truck - easier to break a window than get into the bed.
I find it to be a very flexible system. Bed is covered and secure. If I need to haul something tall just fold it back. If I need whole bed the cover comes out in a few minutes. Had to carry an ATV couple of weeks ago and couldn't use my trailer - off comes the tonneau and no cap in the way either.

I like that Xtang. I put a Retrax on my truck but I think I would have gone with the Xtang if I had known of it. II would have saved quite a bit of $$$ too.

I bought a $200 soft roll up tonneau in September of 2019 for my new Tundra off Amazon, Tyger brand. Just as an experiment to see if I liked it or not. Sure it isn't thief proof and a knife will open it up. I don't believe my gun safes in my house are thief proof either, but they're good enough to stop the grab and go type of thief.

I bought it for running down the highway and not having to worry about stuff flying out, tying down, etc. It is 98.5% water tight (gets some seepage in a couple spots). It rolls up into a nice roll up front by the cab giving me full use of the bed for taller stuff. Rolls up in under a minute.

After 3 years of use, I bought the same one and put on my 2006 F-250 that I've had since 2011. I liked it that much.

So...keeps things dry (mostly), was cheap (enough), keeps things from blowing out, keeps things from walking off (from a grab and go thief), gives 100% use of the bed if needed, installs in 30 minutes.

Well I have both a Tonneau Cover and a tool box in the bed of my Super duty. I have an Aire fiberglass tonneau cover that matches the color of my truck and inside the bed is what is called a "Partner Box" which is a box sold to 5th wheel people to allow a security box in the bed and still use the 5th wheel trailer. The box mounts in the rear of the truck bed right at the tail gate and is 58" wide and extends back 18" to the wheel wells with a height 11". The low height of the box allow the 5th wheel/gooseneck to clear the box.

The box is heavy gauge aluminum diamond plate with keyed security lock and it is where I put things that are very valuable such as rifles, camera, tools, etc. Items that are not as valuable, rope/recovery straps, tire chains, etc. ride in the truck bed with only the tonneau cover protecting them. I have a locking tailgate also which adds to the security of the box because it must be unlocked/defeated before you can access the key lock on the tool box so items in the box are secured with three locks, the tonneau cover lock, the tail gate lock and the tool box lock. The few time I need to carry large items, lumber, etc. I use a utility trailer.

I purchase this "Partner Box" from Highway Products but other manufacturers offer similar items.

I put a Decked Drawer System in my Tundra and like it so far. I added a remote locking tailgate actuator so it locks when I lock the truck. You will lose some depth in the bed but it keeps stuff that could easily walk away out of sight. I got tired of having a cab full of stuff!

I have not used it to store any guns but have not noticed any water in there. You can buy Weatherproof Boxes that fit perfectly in the drawers, mine came with 2. On the left side the large box carries several Milwaukee tools, batteries and light, the smaller box is for a set of hand tools. The left over room is for hard hat and steel toes for work. The right side is full length and holds a kaiser blade, chair, several fishing rods/small tackle box, recovery equipment, and Milwaukee sawzall.

I could not justify spending the $$$$ on a Truck Cap but wanted one bad.

I bought one of those Decked toolboxes for my truck. I really like it so far. I had a Bakflip cover before. It kept things dry but limited the use of my bed pretty good. I think I like just having the toolbox better.

I had a Decked drawer system in my 2016 Silverado 2500HD High Country Duramax. The shape of the drawers and overall design wasted a lot of space. Drawers were 2/3 extension at best. I also had a Leer cap with a Leer Locker upper drawer. The Leer Locker was money well spent optimizing the generally under utilized space directly under the cap's roof.

A hard tonneau cover is ok, but a camper shell is much better for most uses. It depends on what else you use your bed for. Most tonneaus can be removed pretty easy to have a full bed. Truck boxes are a little harder to remove, and shells are the hardest. I’ve had them all and much prefer a shell for my uses, but could see the utility of the others if they fit your needs.

If I didn’t pull a gooseneck I’d have a shell.

I've had a Roll N Lock bed cover on my last 3 work trucks and can't say enough good things about them. Pretty close to being water tight and pretty safe.

Tonneau covers must be great as I see them all the time on big shiny trucks with manly men hauling tampons or a bag of potting soil...Tom

If you decide to go with a toolbox, look at Camlocker. They have a really nice toolbox with one of the most secure latches, carpeted and insulated lid. In the same price range as the Weatherguard, RKI etc.

Dog box means no tonneau cover. I guess as long as I have dogs, I've have a shell. They have gotten to be $$$$

Box for me. I end up packing a bunch of fairly random stuff that doesn't play well with canopies or tonneaus. Probably will put another weatherguard in the new truck some of the highway products and protech prices have gotten insane.